Thief in the Night

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Thief In The Night
Story by Ryan Williams - Photos by Submitted Photos -

Listen: http://tinyurl.com/dev6l


IMN / 92.3 FM / NUVO "Artist of the Week" IndianapolisMusic.net presents the Artist of the Week. Each week our editorial staff will select one local artist who has made a place in the spotlight for themselves by giving Indy's music lovers something they should be hearing. Along with the weekly IMN feature, the Artist of the Week will also be featured in the pages of NUVO Newsweekly and on the air on radio station WTTS - 92.3 FM.

Despite the fact that Adrian Kolbo and Shawn Blomberg have been Indianapolis residents for two years, it’s more accurate to call Thief In The Night a band without a home. In September, the two singer/songwriters dispersed their possessions to storage facilities and family and hit the road in earnest after finishing the recording of their album Midnight Redemption in the Circle City. It’s a mixture of acoustic and electric guitar-based modern rock that the duo are currently supporting in shows over the Midwest.

“It's a culmination of many years of talking and planning, booking and networking, and then the realization that ‘here we are, let's go.’ It is what we've always pictured ourselves doing - driving down the road somewhere in a scene quite a bit less stylized than one would imagine, bathroom breaks at rest stops, cramped car, bad burrito for dinner, and then a show minus the throngs of screaming fans,” says Kolbo. Despite the less-than-desirable conditions, Kolbo says the team remains undaunted. “If all goes as planned we will start a more ambitious tour in January of next year.”

Kolbo says the duo has been at this for several years. “I’ve been a classical pianist since 7 yrs old, and my interests grew from there branching into trumpet in elementary school and guitar at age 12. Shawn took some piano lessons at a young age, saxophone beginning in elementary school, and started playing guitar at age 13. As songwriters, we got our start by meeting at night on weekends to write music together, to learn to write. We wouldn't leave some sessions until 4am at age 14 or until we had a completed song.” The two still collaborate on some material, although Kolbo notes they’re more prone to write separately now.

As the band is now actively touring, Kolbo says Thief In The Night says their biggest challenge is plotting their course and letting everyone know where that is. “As musicians, we work hard on writing and recording and playing live. At the end of the day, it's hard to do your own booking and promotion. As a band in Indianapolis, we have actually been afforded many opportunities that we wouldn't have received in any other city. We were able to record a full-length album that we are sure wouldn't have happened any where else. We were able to meet club owners like Dave Quessier at Locals Only that would help support us as we were just starting out. Basically, he would pay us to play when many didn't possess the same faith in new music.”

Now that Kolbo and Blomberg have hit the road, Kolbo says that’s where they want to stay. Plans for the future include “writing, recording, and touring. We can't wait to just be musicians for awhile.”

Thief In The Night’s “Midnight Redemption” is available now at their shows and their website.

-- Ryan Williams --

Related Link: www.thiefinthenightmusic.com
- Nuevo/Indianapolismusic.net/92.3wtts

Adrian Kolbo and Shawn Blomberg grew up across the street from each other on Sioux City's Westside, spending weekends obsessively spawning the words and melodies that still bind them together.

Now as Thief in the Night, the 23-year-old West High School grads have released their first full album, which Kolbo described as a compilation of the pair's best work over the years.

Most of the work produced in their early jam sessions didn't make the cut for "Midnight Redemption," though, Blomberg said -- and for good reason.


"The music has always been about our life experiences -- when you're 14, you're limited to girls or things you don't really know much about," Kolbo said. "When we were younger, it wasn't that we wrote bad songs ... most of them just aren't relevant to us anymore."

For the men, a tale of hope and hardship lies behind the creation of "Midnight Redemption" and even the band itself. They first started playing at Sioux City coffee shops while still in high school as The Serfs, but a two-year separation almost tore their friendship apart, Blomberg said.

"I moved to Oregon while Adrian stayed here. I was just being lost, I guess you could say," he said. "We didn't see each other or talk to each other at all."

But Blomberg returned, the two's bonds were reconnected and they transported their collaboration to Indianapolis, Ind., where Kolbo could complete his music degree at the University of Indianapolis.

Things started to look up in 2004 when they found a drummer and kicked around the idea of recording an album. But before they could do that, two major blows came within weeks of each other.

Over Christmas break in 2004, their garage was looted for more than $10,000 worth of equipment and instruments. Then their drummer got married and left for Chicago.

"We were definitely discouraged but it sort of fueled the fire," Blomberg said.

In February 2005, the album started to come together. Kolbo and Blomberg shut themselves inside an old monastery outside Indianapolis for three days to lay down exactly how they wanted it to sound.

The pair's big break came when their engineer and producer Chris Dobbs called in a favor and landed them use of a professional studio in Indianapolis -- offering his and the studio's services basically for free.

"We ended up spending 280 to 300 hours there -- an ungodly amount of time for guys who don't have any money," he said.

"Midnight Redemption" showcases Kolbo and Blomberg's multifacted musical talents. They both share in the vocals and recorded all of their own instrumentation -- Kolbo took care of drums, bass, trumpet and organ while Blomberg played guitar and saxophone.

They also brought in a few friends the two met while Kolbo was a music student at the University of Indianapolis to add to the mix, including a choir. Blomberg said they had promised a former, totally non-musical roommate a spot on the record, so they "slapped a cowbell in his hand and told him to go to town."

"Trouble is now we can't find it in there. I have no idea where it is," Blomberg said.

Thief in the Night played a CD release party at Uncle John's last Friday, and this Friday it will take the stage at 10 p.m. at the Cattle Club Collective with two other bands. It will then leave Siouxland for a three-week Midwest tour Nov. 1.

- Sioux City Journal By Alicia Ebaugh